ADVC110 vs ADVC55? Some newbie questions

[spyrelx]

I'm new to this and hopefully someone can give me some guidance. I need to get some hi-8 tapes into my mac and I'd like to do it in as high quality as possible. (I plan to both archive the digital files in a hard drive and also edit them in imovie at a later date).

First question is about file types and quality. My understanding is that, except for whatever loss there is in conversion, either ADVC product will convert the anolog signal to "uncompressed DV" and that DV will be what my iMovie program saves from the feed it is getting from the ADVC. Is that correct? (I don't really understand how "DV" relates to avi. or any other file type, but I'm assuming whatever the mac saves initially will be uncompressed and suitable for archiving. Any wisdom you can provide on that assumption would also be appreciated).

My next question is -- if I'm just going from analog to digital -- is there any significant difference between the 55 and the 110?

I'm assuming the chip is the same and so the transfer is the same.

The 110 says it "supports locked audio" and that this has something to do with audio/video synch on longer tracks but I'm not sure if that's relevant to me (some of the clips on my hi-8 tapes do run over an hour). Is this of any value to me?

Finally, the 110 has a "color reference bar generator" but, again, I'm not sure this is relevant to me. What's this used for and do I need it?

One further bit of info, I might (not sure yet) have access to a Sima color correction device (the Sima SCC) to use with the ADVC.

Thanks for any advice anyone can give me.

[GrassValley_BH]

The ADVCs convert to/from the "Consumer DV" format (the same used by miniDV camcorders) over FireWire - they do not do uncompressed digital video over FireWire.

No difference between the 55 and 110 for analog-to-DV.
Both will try to maintain sync. There is a slight technical thing that prevents the 55 from claiming locked audio, but the audio and video will still stay in sync.

The color bar reference is more for calibration of DV-to-analog and video editing use. If you're strictly going analog-to-DV and not doing any DV-to-analog, then it doesn't matter or help.

I still recommend the 110 over the 55, because when most people "get in to" video, they eventually want a way to preview what's being edited on a real TV or video monitor, and the 55 won't do that.

[funkcutter]

ADVC55 problem - black and white capture?

Hey all, would be very grateful should anyone be able to answer this query...
i'm trying to capture a DVD that I made into finalcutpro. I've just become a mac user and used to use premiere on windows and could capture analogue easily, so i'm still learning the mac way of life.

I can get all the audio and picture quality is good, but it's in black and white. any ideas on how to resolve this?? Thank you in advance.

[GrassValley_BH]

Sounds like...

• Your ADVC is set to NTSC and you're capturing PAL - or vice-versa. Make sure you power cycle the ADVC unit after changing the DIP switch setting.
• Your capturing/editing application is set to NTSC when you're capturing PAL - or vice-versa.